Thursday, July 31, 2014

Things I love about Canada

There are a lot of things that are just amazing about Canada, but I will give you my top ten here:

Natural Beauty - Canada is home to some of the most beautiful and scenic places in the world. I have been to a few of those and I have to say the experience was a treat to the eyes. The mountains, the lakes, the beaches. Adorned with trees, flowers and lush green grass. Be it the Butchart Gardens of Victoria, the view from the top of the Sulphur mountain in Banff, the turquiose color of the lakes in Jasper, the sheer magnanimity of the Niagara Falls - each has its own unique charm that just makes you fall in love with nature. I am not surprised that a lot of Bollywood movie makers come all the way to Canada to capture these beautiful locations in their movies.

Cleanliness - Canada is super clean. It is not only cleaner than India, but also cleaner than most other first world countries I have visited. I love the fact that there are clean washrooms (not sure why they are called washrooms in Canada) available everywhere.

Good infrastructure - which means good roads, good public transport, good systems, all the first-world conveniences.

Amazing healthcare - I could not be more impressed by the healthcare system of Canada. Most of the medical stuff is covered by the government and is free! The government-run hospitals are amazing! I have had two babies in Canada and they cost me nothing (just a few million painful contractions)! Not only that, I got a full year of maternity leave both times, where I got paid about 55% of my regular salary without doing any work.

People - Most people in Canada are very polite and nice. They will hold doors open for you, they will say sorry even if you bumped into them. They will hold the elevator door open if they see you coming towards the elevator. They follow traffic rules. Best of all, they understand the term "queue" and its working (unlike a lot of people in India).

Respect for common man - The common man is respected in this country and treated with equality. It is easy to get bureaucratic tasks done without having any connections with powerful politicians or officers. I have applied for passports, driving license, car registrations, home mortgage, birth certificates, Canadian citizenship, tax returns and so many such things over the past several years. All I had to do was read the instructions and follow the process. Not once did I ever need to bribe anybody or to find any "connections" to speed up the process. I am not sure if that is the case in India. If it is and things have changed since I left, I could not be happier.

Multiculturalism - There are so many cultures thriving together in Canada. As a result I get to meet so many different kinds of people, appreciate their similarities and differences. I get to try so many different foods. Some of my favorite non-Indian cuisines are Vietnamese, Thai and Mexican.

Indian/Punjabi culture - As much as I appreciate other cultures, I also love the fact that I am surrounded by things from my own culture - Bollywood movies in theatres, Indian grocery stores and restaurants, gurudwaras and temples, concerts of Indian singers, Bhangra festivals, Diwali parties etc. Without these, I would have missed India much more.

Great Shopping - I love shopping in Canada! There is so much more variety than in India- be it clothes, shoes, home items or even food. Also I find there are bigger discounts and better deals here. Also, salespersons don't follow me all the time recommending me things and asking me questions about what I am looking for every second! That being said, for Punjabi suits and sarees, India is and will always be the best place for shopping!

Metric System - India and Canada both follow metric system. We work with kilometres, litres and degrees Celsius. It just makes way more sense. I find it annoying to calculate in miles, gallons and degrees Fahrenheit each time I visit the United States.

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About Me

The name of my blog already tells you a lot about me. I was born and raised in Punjab, India. For the last seven years I am undergoing training to survive arctic temperatures in Canada. I am Canadian by passport, Indian by heart. I am desi.
A software engineer by profession, I moved to the winter wonderland called Canada after I got married to my husband, who is technically also an IBCD (Indian Born Canadian Desi) but he’s more like a CBCD (Canadian Born Canadian Desi). The Bollywood song “saat samandar paar mein tere peeche peeche aa gayi” (Translation: I crossed seven seas following you) was written for me. My husband and I have been happily married for seven years. We have two beautiful kids – a 3-year-old son and a 1 year old daughter.
Through this blog I share stories about being Indian and Canadian at the same time. Things that surprised me when I came to Canada. The difficulties I faced. Things I miss. Things I have learnt in Canada. Things I love about Canada. My attempts at keeping Indian culture alive for my kids. And so on...